Exercises for Wellbeing can be found on page 5.
Read more about the various competitions our staff and students enter on page 8.
Quality updates can be found on page 12.
N E WS | U P DAT E S | D I A RY DAT E S | D I S CO U N TS
Picture above shows Tresham College Level 3 Health & Social Care student Minah, and Level 2 Health and Social Care student Fatoumata.
Since the government announced the first step for England’s roadmap out of lockdown staff from across the Group have volunteered to set up the rapid lateral flow testing stations located in Bedford, Corby, Kettering, Shuttleworth, Silverstone and Wellingborough. The staff have carried out 4,677 tests between 8 March and 19 March 2021 across all sites which is a huge achievement.
BCS BEDFORD COLLEGE SERVICES
April 2021
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Olivia Morton
Ian Pryce CBE
Communications Executive omorton@bedford.ac.uk
Editor’s Healthy Competition
In this issue we have included details on how students and staff are entering national competitions to share the excellent work they produce each year. Competitions continue to be held during the current restrictions and support is available when writing entries so have a look and see if there is one that catches your eye for students, your team of yourself! If you would like to add your staff news to the next issue of CONNECT which will be circulated at the end of April please send your article and photos to omorton@bedford.ac.uk no later than Friday 16 April 2021. Please also email me if you need support in writing competition entries.
CEO The Bedford College Group
Your Diary Easter Break
Monday 29 March and returning Monday 12 April
Bank Holiday
Friday 2 April
Contents Pg.2
Key Dates
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Principal’s Update
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Research
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Wellbeing
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Group News
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Job Opportunities
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Quality Update
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Training Opportunities
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Equality, Diversity And Inclusion
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Diversity Calendar
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Staff Perks
Principal’s Coming back stronger
It has been great to be able to fully reopen our campuses again. We owe a great debt to all those who have volunteered to deliver the rapid lateral flow COVID-19 tests on our return. On the first day back over 800 tests were conducted, only one of which was positive. Now we are back we must focus on ensuring students achieve and progress, but we need also to prepare for next year too. We have now been assured of our funding for next year and, thanks to the big increase in 16-18 student numbers this year, our income will increase by about 7%. We also continue to secure extra money for investment in our buildings and equipment. We are grateful to the excellent Connolly Foundation who are donating large sums for equipment in our construction and care areas. The government is providing nearly £700k for equipment and accommodation improvements in the areas where we will be delivering T Levels. Just as we are capturing the positive aspects of working from home during lockdown we must also capture the positive aspects of learning from home. The government is likely to give us some discretion to maintain a degree of online offsite learning in the future so sharing successful practice is important.
Bank Holiday
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Principal’s Update
Monday 5 April
Term starts
Monday 12 April
The Bedford Sixth Form Virtual Open Day Thursday 29 April, 5:00 PM - 8:00 PM
For more diary dates visit www.bit.ly/collegecalendars
Women of Substance
To celebrate International Women’s Day NatWest constructed a list of 100 women from the south east midlands region who make an important contribution. I was pleased to see it included a student, Hannah Underwood, staff member Sharon Key, Corporation member Sharon de Leonardis, and the head of our public relations activity Jacquie Manners. That came shortly after teacher Sue Powell became the first person to have an article published in the new journal InspireFE, another piece of research produced by the college, enhancing our reputation even further. It also came shortly after our apprentice Kyra Joy was named runner up for the apprentice of the year title at the Northamptonshire Business awards.
Front and Centre
Progress with the new Modern Methods of Construction Centre at Bedford continues apace. Here is how our Cauldwell Street front will look when it is finished.
The government is also looking at a number of options around what is termed “catch up”. This year’s tuition fund has been well managed by Nina Sharp and that funding will continue next year. We want people to have a real break over the summer so we are opposed to any idea of extending this teaching year. Government does seem to be concerned that college students do smaller programmes than in other countries so we will continue to lobby for additional funding to support bigger programmes of study, one of the options likely to be considered.
Did you know you can follow Ian on Twitter?
April 2021
@ipryce
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Rachel Nicol
Director of Governance and Clerk to the Corporation rnicol@bedford.ac.uk
Sam Jones MSc (Oxon)
Advanced Practitioner - Research and Scholarship Lead TES FE Awards - Teacher of the year 2019 sjones@bedford.ac.uk
Corporation
Research
The Corporation continue to work hard to add value to the College through their governance oversight with a full cycle of virtual board and committee meetings.
There is real traction towards engaging in practitioner research in the sector right now. More and more colleges and sixth forms are beginning to set up their own research networks, drawing on the trail blazing work completed within our own college group. Other organisations are also interested in our College Research Improvement Projects (ChIRPs) as a method of developing practice in an organisation.
In addition a number of governors support internal committees for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, Health and Safety and Safeguarding. The Corporation established a Community Engagement working group early in the academic year to work with the Executive Director of Sales and Marketing and Principal to develop governor oversight and support in this area. A report and plan for oversight will be taken to the March Corporation meeting but the group was delighted to understand the extent of the collaboration and work with all the College’s stakeholders, including employers and our local communities. Governors always give a lot of time to the College, both in terms of meetings, support for development and celebration of our students. They are often the unsung heroes. I am therefore delighted this month to share with you their own success stories: Greg Guilford’s company, HR Solutions Limited, for winning the Professional Services award at the Northants Business awards in February and Sharon De Leonardis for being nominated in Nat West’s Top 100 women. All governors have busy lives and we are juggling meeting times where we can to also support Sheila Selwood and Vinod Tailor as they volunteer in their local vaccination centres.
Whilst this interest is great to see it does perhaps give an impression that all of Bedford College Group are researching, and whilst this is by no means something we feel should be mandated, we would like to understand how we can encourage others to get involved. To this end we would welcome comments or suggestions as to how the college could attract you to enquire into your practice, research and share. Alternatively, if you are of the opinion that research has little relevancy in an FE college we’d love to hear from you too. In short, all comments are gratefully received to understand what we can do to make this space more useful or more attractive to you because we believe there is a wealth of knowledge and experience within The Bedford College Group that could better shape the college of tomorrow. Understanding how best to engage staff to share and continue to build this knowledge is central to the success of TBCG and the communities it serves. Please send comments to: sjones@bedford.ac.uk
For more information on Corporation matters please contact the Director of Governance & Clerk to the Corporation, Rachel Nicol on rnicol@bedford.ac.uk
Caroline Biddle
Executive Director of Human Resources cbiddle@bedford.ac.uk
Exercise April is an important month in the wellbeing calendar as it is not only National Stress Awareness month, but also contains World Health Day on 7th April 2021 and On Your Feet Britain Day on 29th April. With these in mind, we thought this edition we’d look at some tips for keeping fit at home whilst restrictions continue.
The team have been setting students weekly exercise routines that require minimal equipment and can be easily adapted and also provide a format so people can track their progress
The Tresham Sports Team at our Kettering campus, have been working hard with students on reinforcing the mental health benefits of exercise and have kindly agreed to share their work so that staff across the college can also benefit from it. The team use a model created from extensive research in the area, to show the beneficial outcomes of taking part in exercise as outlined below: EXERCISE INCREASES
Academic Performance Assertiveness Confidence Emotional Stability Intellectual Functioning Internal locus of control Memory Perception Positive Body Image Self-control Wellbeing Work efficiency
Absenteeism at work Alcohol Abuse Anger Anxiety Confusion Depression Headaches Hostility Phobias Psychotic Behaviour Tension Type A Behaviours Work Errors
There are 7 workouts in total and all can be found on the Wellbeing page on the Connect intranet via the following link https://college.oak.com/Home/Index/59465601-e4a6-4eb99348-cf94bf1a2c88
EXERCISE DECREASES
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safety In the wake of the tragic death of Sarah Everard and the ongoing public concern for safety and in particular the safety of women, we recognise that some of our staff and students might feel unsettled at the moment on their journeys. Whilst danger is a part of everyday life that we cannot eliminate, we take our staff and student safety very seriously and so thought it would be useful to share some practical advice with tips you can do to increase your safety when travelling on foot and public transport especially. Before you set off: • Make sure someone knows that you are making your journey, what route you are taking and what time you should be expected to arrive. • Keep your valuables (mobile phones or other expensive items) out of sight. Put them away in your bag or zip pockets securely. • Make sure your mobile phone has plenty of battery.
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Brooks Hair & Beauty
Useful contacts / other tools: If you are in immediate and real danger, seek refuge in a nearby open shop and ask for help or hide and dial 999 for Police. If you want to report an incident or concern that is not immediate, dial 101. Non-urgent crimes or incidents can also be reported via the Bedfordshire police website and Northamptonshire police website.
Walksafe
The walksafe app is a free app which scans the road ahead of you on your journey, helping you to identify known trouble spots and regularly check your routes for recent incidents. The app also has features that allow you to let someone know that you feel unsafe or schedule an alert to tell someone if you fail to arrive home on time.
This latest lockdown has meant many challenges to our Hair and Beauty Team. The staff and students have continued to work throughout this period, with sessions taught remotely over Teams. Being largely a practicalbased subject, this has certainly brought its challenges for us all; learning all about how to use the Teams app, overcoming WiFi issues for both students and staff, teaching and learning from home, all the time whilst managing our physical and mental welfare. We have at times really had to think outside of the hair and beauty industry box. As a team we are proud of how we have faced this challenges and overcome them alongside our students.
Level 1 Beauty student - cut crease eye make-up
Level 3 Beauty Therapy Teams wellbeing walk and talk session
Using a head-cam to record cutting techniques
Barbering students completed work over Teams
The app is available via Apple and Android smartphones. Look out for this logo in your app store
• Whenever possible, and for as much of your journey as possible: • Try to find a ‘route buddy’, someone that you can travel with (maintaining a Covid-19 safe appropriate social distance). • Use well-lit and busy streets / roads avoiding alleyways or less public shortcuts. • Avoid wearing headphones or having music too loud so that you will hear what is happening around you. • Walk with confidence, maintain a steady pace. • When using public transport: • Sit towards the front of buses where the driver can see you. • On trains, travel in the busier carriages with other people (whilst maintaining a Covid-19 safe appropriate social distance). • At stations, wait somewhere that is well-lit and busy.
Your mobile phone may also have its own safety features such as allowing you to designate an emergency contact or an ‘SOS’ function, check your phones settings or user manual.
Indian Head Massage
Swedish body massage was taught using a medical mannequin)
Facial electrotherapy routine taught live on Teams
Level 1 Beauty student nail art, completed at home
If students need support in reporting an incident or more information and advice about personal safety, they should be aware that they should reach out to your Personal Achievement Tutor and all staff should be up to date with the latest safeguarding policies followed by the Group. If you feel that you or a colleague is unsafe for any other reason you should also speak to your Line Manager, a colleague or you can also contact HR via your designated HR Advisor.
Level 3 Hairdressing students internal competition As a team we are all looking forward to welcoming clients, both regular and new, back to our Brooks Hair and Beauty salon once government guidelines allow salons to re-open. 01234 291309
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Competitions
Artists Work Destined for
Teams from across the Group regularly enter competitions with their students and staff and we hope to be able to regularly update you on progress with national competitions we are entering.
Sue Wood, the student’s Hairdressing lecturer had been encouraging all of her groups to consider entering the national competition and was very pleased with Karen and Kirsty were announced on the shortlist:
Hair on the up!
“This is a tremendous achievement for these two students. They both completed their full-time Level 2 qualifications last year and progressed to the Level 3 course starting last September.
Two women who are retraining for new careers in hairdressing at the Kettering campus salons, Tresham Studios, have made it to the final in a national competition. The Concept Hair Magazine hosts a range of competition classes and Karen Smith and Kirsty Rutherford have both made it through to the finals of the Hair Up/Red Carpet category.
For the past few years the Level 3 Bedford College Fine Art students have participated in the Brooklyn Art Library Sketchbook Project https://www.sketchbookproject.com/ [enter ‘Bedford College’ in search engine for past submissions]
“In these trying times it has become more obvious than ever before, that people always need their hair done and there is no substitute for professionally trained stylists.” The winners will be announced on Monday 26 April 2021 so keep fingers crossed!
Due to Covid-19 restrictions they had to submit entries online and now go on the next stage which is the national finals in April.
The teaching team have encouraged students to get involved in the opportunity which this year gave them a four minute segment of the Julian Schnabel 1996 biopic ‘Basquiat’ to watch and interpret. Their visual retelling in book form has now been posted to the New York gallery and Covid-19 restrictions pending, will again be part of the annual tour of American galleries and Biennials undertaken by the project. The full presentation of the work along with other examples can be viewed via the Fine Arts own Instagram page at @bedfordcollege_fineart
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Job
Welcome to
Lecturer in AAT
Jack Baker
Em Lowe
Vice Principal elowe@bedford.ac.uk
Testing The expectation of testing on site has been a huge undertaking across the Group and the government has regularly changed the guidance around it, meaning staff have been kept on their toes but have always risen to the challenge. Over the past three months, government guidelines have developed from originally having 3 test sites (one in Cauldwell Street, Kettering & Shuttleworth) delivering on site rapid lateral flow tests from the first week in January to staff working on site over the lockdown period. This has more recently grown into providing seven test sites (as above and including additional sites at Corby, Silverstone, The Bedford Sixth Form and Wellingborough) to deliver 4,677 on site rapid lateral flow tests to students from between Monday 1 and Friday 19 March. Alongside the huge workload involved in setting up new sites, the same amazing team have organised the distribution of home testing kits to staff and now to students. I would like to say a huge thank you to the core testing team who have made all of this possible over the first half term. They are Amanda Riches and Mel Tew who have led the countywide teams and who have been assisted by Barrie Baldwin, Dan Barker, Caroline Biddle, Jo Baxter, Hannah Buckley, Margaret Curry, Frank Dzokoto, Simon Hardie, Jamie Hinckley, Alex Hughes, Rex Keen, Grace Kennedy, Alex Mortby, Simone Newman, Fiona Phillip, Simon Rice, Margot Saunston, Jill Sedgwick, Sue Wilson and Mark Woolford. We also had help from the BCS Team at Kettering, Lisa, Elaine and Denise and Sports Associates Marcus Ebdon and Richard Scott who also helped out at Kettering and Corby sites for staff testing initially and then HE, also Gordon Bowie who also assisted training staff at Corby.
Location: Corby Salary: £25,500 - £32,000 per annum, depending on qualifications and experience £32,000 - £40,000 per annum, highly experienced Application closing date: 21/03/2021
The IT team have also worked alongside the teams to provide laptops and scanners at testing sites. Reprographics have been great in assisting with the signage, no job was too much trouble. We have had help from so many members of staff, including Paul Simpson in the Performing Arts team at Kettering who provided the booths for the testing and the much needed music! Quality offered their support, with John Guiney and Heather Neil, patiently demonstrating how to create the Eventbrite sessions. And then there were the staff who came along for the initial trial sessions when we went live in January. Thank you to everyone involved. By working together it has meant that we have been able to carry out the testing on site and are now hoping to move more towards providing home testing kits for students now they have completed three on site for those aged 16-18 on full time courses. Throughout the pandemic I continue to be inspired by the fabulous staff we have working at the College who have risen to each challenge and have ensured all sites are COVID-safe and students are having the best experience we can deliver. I am incredibly proud to be able to work with you all.
Emma Horton
Position: Lecturer in Science
Helen Wildman
Position: Estates & Facilities Coordinator
Lecturer in Carpentry and Joinery
Location: Bedford Salary: Circa £32,000 per annum, depending on qualifications and experience Application closing date: 21/03/2021
World Class
General Assistant – Catering
Location: Old Warden Salary: £18,188 per annum, pro rata Application closing date: 22/03/2021
Course Manager in Travel
Location: Bedford Salary: £31,000 - £33,000 per annum, depending on experience Application closing date: 22/03/2021
Teacher of Politics and Philosophy
Location: Bedford Salary: £31,000 per annum, depending on qualifications and experience Application closing date: 28/03/2021
Do you know someone who can offer industry insight? We are always looking for industry representatives, to welcome into the classroom and help our students connect theory with practice. It’s also very inspiring for our students to hear from those already working in the sector they are interested in, which motivates them and creates ambition to succeed in their qualifications. We welcome guest speakers to talk about the wider industry and also your own organisation’s experiences and achievements.
Teaching Assistant
Location: Old Warden Salary: £18,188 per annum, pro rata. Actual salary £13,154.10 per annum Application closing date: 29/03/2021
Lecturer in Maths
Location: Bedford Salary: £25,500 - £32,000 per annum, pro rata, depending on qualifications and experience Application closing date: 18/04/2021
I would also like to say a big thanks to the Estates team who helped to set up each test centre and have distributed over 45,000 home tests kit across all sites so far. I also want to thank Centre Administrators who have taken on the mantle of issuing home tests to students and staff. Finally thanks to staff who put themselves forward to be part of the testing teams on the ground and balanced this with their day jobs.
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Position: Lecturer in Animation
» View and apply for our full-time and part-time vacancies via The Bedford College Group vacancy portal which can be found on CONNECT staff intranet.
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April 2021
Quality Apprentice Survey
The Apprentice Induction Survey is now live! All Apprentices enrolled between 1st December 2020 and 28th February 2021 will have received an email requesting them to complete the survey. The email contained the link for the apprentice to access the survey, this link takes them to a page which asks them for a code. This code is their student ID. They enter this into the box and the survey begins. If you have any questions please contact hwedgwood-setchell@bedford.ac.uk
Learners passed end dates
Just a reminder that if it is safe to do so and employers are allowing on site visits we should be prioritising visits to learners who have passed their end dates. These learners need to be in by the end July 2021. If you have questions or require support please speak to your line manager.
Home testing for Apprentices
There has been an announcement put onto OneFile providing apprentices with guidance on how to access a home test if required. The letter sent to Apprentices has been placed into Resources for them to read in the College Information 2020/21 folder.
Good News!!
Amelia Robertson who was a Business Apprentice has now joined the Bedford College Group as a Business Administrator, please join me in welcoming Amelia to The Group.
Virtual Apprenticeship Conference
The planning has begun for the Virtual Apprenticeship Conference to be held Friday 2nd July 2021.
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Training Opportunities Let’s Celebrate Good News!!
Some Fantastic feedback has been shared with the Business Department from an Employer ‘Flexistaff’. The learners are completing Level 3 HR. The employer wanted us to know how impressed they are with Bedford College’s approach to Apprenticeships compared to another provider they used before us. They are impressed with the support we are providing with using Onefile, our planning, completing assessments, providing feedback and EPA planning and support. Paula from ‘Flexistaff’ is very grateful for our support and is impressed so far and felt it was important to share this encouraging feedback with the team and wider college. Well Done to those involved in working with this employer and keep up the fantastic work.
Great Feedback - Shout out to Kenny Hill and Carl Rimes
Kenny and Carl received some fantastic feedback from their learner who took the time to thank them personally with the email below: “I’ve just recently finished my Carpentry Level 3 course and managed to get a Merit on my final exam, I wanted to mention how helpful both Carl and Kenny have been with helping me do this and I really appreciated the help both of them gave me”. Well done to you both, and thank you for your hard work and dedication to your learners. Please share your department’s positive feedback and let’s fill this section with all the good work you are all doing. Send your good news to hwedgwood-setchell@bedford.ac.uk
To support this planning we are interested to hear what you would like to see at this years Conference. Please send any ideas you have for the Conference to hwedgwood-setchell@bedford.ac.uk by Friday 19th March 2021
The Staff Lounge
Breakout rooms
The virtual Staff Lounge is rapidly filling up with some really useful content. For instance, ideas on how to embed maths into a vocational setting or develop your confidence in EDI. Please have a look around.
You can now split your students out into different groupings whilst in an online lesson. It’s easy for staff to move from room to room and also to send simultaneous messages to each room. Once the rooms are closed, the room activity will be available to the room members in Teams Chat.
Why not plan something into the Golden Hours by using a flip learning method? Ask the team to watch the 20 minute video on the subject of your choice and spend 10 mins of the meeting having a discussion about how staff might use it their own practice. Even in the current difficult circumstances it’s important that we don’t take our foot off the gas in the development of our teaching staff. Golden Hours must, and should, be being used for this. Many of the videos on here have been developed by our staff and they were all developed specifically by or for The Bedford College Group, often as a result of a Risk It! project. Let’s make use of them!
Teams Assignments The Assignments feature is now available in Teams allowing teachers to assign tasks, work, or quizzes to their students. Teachers can manage assignment timelines, instructions, add resources to turn in, grade with rubrics, and more. Assignments can also be monitored in the new Teams Insights app (see below).
Please find the link to the Staff Lounge here. For more information visit the Professional Development pages on the intranet or email professionaldevelopment@bedford.ac.uk
Learning Technologies have a guide for Assignments click here to access >>>
New Learning Technologies - Moodle Quiz & H5P Interactive Content bitesize sessions
It’s now very easy to add quiz activities into your Class Teams with Microsoft Forms. There are numerous question types, and you can give automatic feedback for correct and incorrect answers.
The Moodle Quiz is a very powerful activity that can meet many teaching needs, from simple, multiple-choice knowledge tests to complex, self-assessment tasks with detailed feedback, presented by Learning Technology. Training will also be held looking at the functions of Moodle Quiz. That can be booked here H5P makes it easy for everyone to create, share and reuse interactive content. So instead of using it as an activity for assessing, it can be also used for displaying information, self-evaluation or informal learning. Training will also be held looking at the functions of Moodle H5P. That can be booked here Nigel Gilbert has completed a bite size training session on Microsoft Class Teams. A recording for one of these sessions can be found here
This event is for you and about you, so if you want to see something there please share your ideas!
Learning Technologies have a guide for Breakout Rooms – click here to access >>>
The TopTip to online learning can be found here Further tutorials and support can be found below on the various function of Class Teams.
Microsoft Forms Quizzes
Learning Technologies have a guide for Forms’ Quizzes click here to access >>>
Insights – In depth student engagement analysis With the Insights add on you can now view the level of engagement for your whole class or by individual student. Check to see who has or has not attended an online class or check to see which students are using the conversation/chat facilities, downloading files etc. Learning Technologies have a guide for Insights click here to access >>>
Microsoft Flipgrid – Collect video/audio responses from your students Flipgrid allows tutors to ask a question or set tasks that students can respond to with a video or audio response, easily created within Flipgrid. Flipgrid supports screen recording so students can present things such as a PowerPoints and there is also a whiteboard function. Your Flipgrids can also be set up so that students can respond to other students’ submissions. Learning Technologies have a guide for Flipgrid click here to access >>>
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Anastassia Parsons
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Manager
EQUALITY, DIVERSITY AND The reason why? Because those within their social groups wouldn’t have grasped the behaviours of inclusion. We cannot change the fact that a student may be in the minority, but we can change how they are made to feel. By being inclusive, we can instil positive behaviours and limit barriers. We can challenge negative stereotypes. Inclusion is about knowing it’s ok to be different, not having to deliberately seek out others who are the same in order to create a sense of social identity, not having to constantly go above and beyond the efforts of our peers to succeed and not doubt as to whether you’ve been accepted or successful ‘as part of a social experiment’ (Michelle Obama, 2018).
DIVERSITY CALENDAR 29th Mar – 4th Apr Autism Awareness week Autistic people see, hear and feel the world differently to other people. If you are autistic, you are autistic for life; autism is not an illness or disease and cannot be ‘cured’. Thanks to the social model of disability, the term ‘neurodiversity’ has gained popularity to focus on the strengths and talents of neurodivergent individuals (people with autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia, ADHD). Neurodiversity requires a different kind of support, which does not mean needing more support or difficult to manage. Just because it’s different, it doesn’t make it harder. For more info, visit The National Autistic Society website or contact Additional Learning Support.
Karen Campbell, Vice Principal WHAT INCLUSION MEANS TO ME
Michelle Obama, in her autobiography ‘Becoming’, described feelings of isolation, demoralisation and later, determination, when being a minority of one of few black females at Princeton University. When reading this I asked myself, had I ever been made to feel different and ever had a sense of not belonging. The thought that instantly came to mind was at 7-years old, my family moved from the Midlands to Buckinghamshire. I recall my new teacher ridiculing me on how I spoke. I felt humiliated, isolated and probably, although wouldn’t have recognised it at the time, a sense of not belonging. Is this what it feels like in a non-inclusive society? Thankfully, this was short-lived. There are members of society with certain characteristics, be that of race, sexuality, religion or disability, who may experience these feelings long-term and on a daily basis due to the ignorance of others. Consider the student studying construction who communicates by BSL, the sport student who is a wheelchair user or the student with ADHD who may be labelled as challenging or difficult. These students, whether intentional or not, may feel demoralised, they will be in the minority and may have memories they will want to blot out. Pg.14
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In teaching and workplace practices: consider rules on noise and interruptions, introduce change in a sensitive way, provide information in advance to give people the opportunity to read and absorb in a stress-free way, make adjustments to an individual’s workspace such as allow use of a private office, or a desk by a window, adjustments to the job role where non-core aspects of an employee’s work tasks are reassigned; • In recruitment and selection of staff and application process/interviews of students; • In communication: use a range of methods (verbal, written, pictures and images, structured, etc) to suit preferences in communication styles; • In customer interactions through marketing materials or face-to-face: free of jargon materials with clear layout and in multiple formats, and being aware that a customer’s negative body language and lack of eye contact is not necessarily because of rudeness or lack of interest.
Oliver Royston-White, Student Rep for Disability, The Bedford Sixth Form Inclusion is that wonderful achievement of feeling fully part of something or fully accepted, and no longer being in the periphery of a group. It means that we recognise our individual differences and all the things that make us unique, but we embrace them and appreciate their value. I have first-hand experience seeing the effects of lack of inclusion for my neurodiverse siblings, such as not being invited to social gatherings or parties, desperately trying to be included but feeling instead extremely ostracised, worthless and sad. We cannot legislate to create empathy towards others. However, in our educational establishments we can create an ethos of care and respect for one another and through this we can hope to shift individual’s consciousness in such a way that even when they leave educational establishments the ideology of inclusion comes naturally to them.
How can you create a more neurodiverse-inclusive culture in your area?
DisAbility Advisory Forum The forum is an inclusive group available to all members of staff in The Bedford College Group with experience of or an interest in disability issues and support. It is an open group and staff are invited to join in at any time. Interested? Please contact Elli Kyrou or Louise Bedworth, Co-chairs of the forum.
Religious Festivals
4 Apr - EASTER DAY Christian (Western Churches) 13 Apr – 12 May - RAMADAN Muslim 20 Apr – 1 May - RIDVAN Baha’i 30 Apr - BELTAINE/MAY EVE Wiccan/ Pagan The Inter Faith Network has a more detailed list of festivals and short descriptions.
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PERKS Lynsey Travers
HR Manager - Human Resources
Rewards for staff at Bedford College Group – Saving you money everyday Did you know that with Bedford College Perks, you can: • Save on your in-store shopping through discounted Instant Vouchers and Reloadable Card top-ups. • Earn cashback on purchases with certain retailers where you can get either a percentage of your total spend or a fixed amount of money credited to your online account. You can spend the cashback on other purchases or request for it to be transferred to your bank account. • Purchase an EasySaver card which enables you to save 7% on all purchases in-store at over 50 favourite UK highstreet retailers, with one card! • Top-up your shopping card by Text without you needing to log into the website. • Download the SmartSpending app to access discounts. • Some retailers offer additional discount codes that are applied automatically to your shopping basket so you can view your savings. • Your online account shows you what you have saved by using Bedford College Perks and any cashback that is pending or approved.
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